Krauthammer Urges Kerry to Quit Over 'Apartheid' Statement

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has called for Secretary of State John Kerry to resign following his "pernicious" remarks that Israel could become an "apartheid state" if there is no peace deal with its Palestinian neighbors.

The syndicated columnist said that comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with the now-defunct racist apartheid system in South Africa was "truly appalling and hurtful," and he has backed Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz by urging Kerry to quit.

"It’s beyond nonsense," Krauthammer told Fox News. "It’s pernicious and extremely harmful. What the Secretary of State of the United States has succeeded in doing in what he thought was a private comment is to echo and therefore to legitimize the worst of the libelous [claims] against the Jewish state.

"If there is one minority in the Middle East that enjoys the rule of law and protection and democracy, it is Arabs in Israel. One out of every five Israelis is a Palestinian, overwhelmingly they are Muslim.

"There are Arabs in the government, in the Supreme Court, in all walks of life in the universities. There is actually affirmative action if you are a Palestinian in the universities.

"And to compare that in any way with the systematic discrimination against black Africans in South Africa is truly appalling and hurtful. I think Cruz is right. This is beyond something requiring an apology. I think this is a resigning-type statement."

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, who writes for The Washington Post and appears regularly on Fox News as a contributor, added, "This is an injury to an ally that will echo, because it will be repeated.

"People will say, 'I’m not saying this, it is the Secretary of State of the United States.' It’s untrue, it’s pernicious, and it’s truly something that demands at the very least an immediate apology."

Kerry made his controversial "apartheid state" comments during a closed door meeting of the Trilateral Commission on April 25.

He apologized late Monday, lashing out against "partisan political" attacks against him, even as he conceded "apartheid" is "a word best left out of the debate here at home."